


A Tale of Two Lovers

by the_northerlies



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ballads, F/F, First Meetings, Folk Music, Original Character(s), Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Poetry, The Bold Grenadier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_northerlies/pseuds/the_northerlies
Summary: Folk songs and ballads tell us hundreds of stories amidst the greater epics that we all know.  I thought this part of a friend's story about her Final Fantasy XIV characters needed one.
Relationships: Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	A Tale of Two Lovers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roefizzlebeef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roefizzlebeef/gifts).
  * Inspired by [you're a cinder, love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25516432) by [roefizzlebeef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roefizzlebeef/pseuds/roefizzlebeef). 



> Sometimes, someone loves a story they've written so much that you just need to show your support. I can't draw or paint or anything like that, but I think I'm pretty good with words, so I wrote this ballad.
> 
> Its meter is - / - - / - - / - - / and it can be sung to the tune of "The Bold Grenadier," if you like.

Now hush, all my brethren, and gather around

And hearken awhile to a story sublime

A tale of the battle 'twixt darkness and light

A tale of two lovers: Rosemary and Thyme

'Tis lost to the ages, the time 'fore the Flood

The land we once knew but the faintest of dreams

Our lot but to cower and suffer and starve

Our world but a garment gone out at the seams

From far beyond Light had a visitor come

And raised up a tower that piercéd the sky

He gathered the people and bade them not fear

He taught us 'twas never our lot to but die

And years upon years did he pass in this task

Awaiting a sign from his homeland, he claimed

Till one day he bade us to welcome her in

Till she came to grace us, Rosemary by name

A hero of old, yea, and mighty was she

A friend to the needy, the hungry, the small

With fervor she aided the meek and the frail

With honor and passion she fought for us all

There soon came a time when she traveled afar

And flew over sea to Kholusian shores

A land where the spectre of want stalked its roads

A land where the helpless were counted in scores

But not ev'ry soul in that land knew defeat

And not every dream in Kholusia had died

E'er cruel the malaise that attended to lack

E'er kindly Thyme Meadows, her tonics supplied

Her wagon disabled by treacherous stones

Thyme hid in the brush that hung close to the road

'Twas then she beheld a young lass girt for war

'Twas then her first glimpse of her love, her betrothed

A cavalier word and a gentle reply

Then bore hence the wagon, did Rosemary Wilds

Amid the sere scrubland they journeyed with haste

Amid the parched grasses the Light had defiled

But lo! 'Pon the wagon the Wicked White fell

In form of a fiend wielding ivory claws

Its eyes like two wellsprings of darkest jet ink

Its sin-eater's shriek loosed from slavering jaws

True, Thyme was no fighter, a healer was she

But luck saw her warded by veteran guile

And up from the wagon her gallant friend sprang

And faced down her foe then, did Rosemary Wilds

Now tales you have heard of young Rosemary's might

And songs have been written of vict'ries withal

Still here in Kholusian lands we remember

Still echoes the tale of this battle, so small

For here was love's cornerstone first fairly laid

And here 'midst the grass, her heart soften'd anew

As Rosemary dashed off to stand for her charge

As Thyme watched her champion's flurries strike true

The battle, 'twas over as quick as a flash

For no match for Rosemary's might can be found

In seconds she shattered the sin eater's bones

In moments she left the beast dead on the ground

Not long did these trav'lers remain on the road

A vict'ry, long savored, yet tragic might be

And once more, the wagon, pulled Rosemary Wilds

And once more their steps traced the path toward the sea

When Stilltide they reached did the two bid farewell

The briefest of meetings, a-nearing its end

Still 'fore they were parted a gesture was made

Still changing the pathway along which Fate wends

A token did Rosemary give to the maid

An apt little sprig picked from yon nearby coombes

And so Thyme her namesake did set in her hair

And so thyme adorned her, a-speckled in blooms

Through days that did follow, the battle waged on

The war 'gainst the Light brought to breathtaking end

But those tales will keep for the time we next meet

But those tales will keep till anon, my dear friends.


End file.
